In class this week,  I learnt about the Silent Era which was from 1914 - 1928. Although I found out Felix the Cat was the first animation cartoon superstar, I was still mesmerised and curious why Mickey Mouse has such lasting popularity till now. I am glad that Disney listened to his wife and not name Mickey Mortimer Mouse because the name did not sound children friendly. I was also very surprised to learn that Mickey Mouse was modeled after Charlie Chaplin.
After doing some research I found this quote:
"We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for that idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin-a little fellow trying to do the best he could."
I watched The Gold Rush (1925) where Chaplin acted as a tramp  who wanted to take part in the Klondike Gold Rush and I felt very sad for him because he fell in love with a girl and he thought she was also in love with him but she was not in love with him.


My favorite scene from The Gold Rush is the one where he dances with the bread. I have actually tried this before but realised that it is a lot more difficult then it seems.  How does this relate to Mickey Mouse? I think that one reason that Mickey Mouse was so popular was because  like Charlie Chaplin, he is the underdog (undermouse) with a heart of gold, lots of little talents, a fun loving spirit and cheers people up.

I think that the fact that the early Mickey Mouse shows and Charlie Chaplin was so famous because they were both silent. The story had to be told by actions and the use of music this made them more universal and most of the time the plots are very simple. I think that even though animation is very advanced now a days and we can do special effects that are a lot more impressive. I think at heart, characterisation is most important for a good animation. The simplicity of Mickey Mouse in the Silent Era has a charming effect. Even though Walt Disney also said, " All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration , caricatures. It is the very nature of  fantasy and fable," I think that animation characters nowadays are even more exaggerated. I think the more complex the animated character, the more limited the appeal. This quote reminds me of my all time favorite animation film maker, Satoshi Kon.In my next post, I am going to focus on Warner Brothers. Here is a picture of Charlie Chaplin and Mickey Mouse!